“Lass.”
She held up her hand and he snapped his mouth shut.
“Those girls snickering and sending me looks of disgust before they hurried away, whispering behind my back, were all former acquaintances of mine. Normally, I might say former friends, but they showed their true colors when I needed them most. I learned they were not my friends at all.” She rolled her lips inward and gazed out the window, her eyes watery with unshed tears she refused to let fall.
“When I came of age and was introduced into society, I hated every minute of it. I didn’t want a husband. I didn’t like the idea of being paraded in front of the ton like a prized pig on display.”
He chuckled, unable to contain his reaction at her description.
She pierced him with a glare, and he cleared his throat, straightening in his seat. “I am no’ laughing at ye, lass. Just at the picture ye paint. I can only imagine how that must feel.”
“It is an awful feeling. I only wanted it to be done. When one man seemed to understand my plight, and offered me an escape, I took it, accepting it like a salvation. Little did I know it was all a ploy. He had no real feelings for me.” She broke eye contact, but not before he saw the hurt that resided there.
“Ye loved him.”
She sniffled and nodded. “I did. I believed his sweet words. His promises of what our future would look like. He knew exactly what to say. As if he could read my mind and knew what I wanted to hear.”
Anger bubbled up inside of his chest. Whoever the bastard was, he’d hunt him down and make him pay for the hurt he’d caused Whitney. He took a sharp intake of breath, surprised at his own reaction for a lass that he had just practically met.
“We,” she paused as if searching for the right words to say. “We did more than court. I don’t think I need to go into specifics for you to understand what I am inferring.”
His eyes rounded. Not at her actions. He could understand how a lass would fall under the spell of carefully chosen words from a man that was only thinking about what he could gain from the situation. The man was vile.
Going through the actions he did kenning the result it would have on Whitney and then leaving her alone to deal with the consequences.
Disgusting.
Chapter Sixteen
There. She’d saidit. She dared not look at Christopher. She didn’t want to see the disappointment and disgust that was surely on his face.
She held her breath.
“Whitney,” he called.
But, still, her eyes remained on the small window of the carriage. Not really seeing what was happening outside.
“Whitney,” Christopher repeated. “Look at me, lass,” his voice soft.
Slowly, she did as he said, bracing herself for the anger that would surely be directed at her. But when her eyes clashed with his, she only saw sympathy in their brown depths.
“Ye are no’ the first lass to have a lapse in judgement and go against what society deems proper. Hell, ’tis why I prefer Scotland. Ye English are so uptight.”
She raised her brows in surprise. This was the very opposite of what she expected.
“Are ye not mad?”
He barked out a laugh. “Did it happen whilst we were together? Nay. It has naught to do with me. Whate’er ye did in your past doesna affect me in anyway.”
“M-m-m,” she sputtered, trying to get out the words. “Maybe you don’t understand what I am saying.”
“Och, I ken what ye are saying.” He shrugged his shoulders as if he hadn’t a care in the world. “I dinna put any blame on ye, lass. Ye found someone ye loved. And thought he returned the emotion. He took advantage of that.”
“Yes. No. I was a willing participant.” She didn’t want him to think that Harold had taken opportunities with her that she didn’t want. She very much did at the time.
“So, society shunned ye for running with your emotions and acting on them. Nay doubt, he then turned tail and ran?”
Wringing her hands in her lap, she shrugged. “Our relations continued for some time. In secret, of course.”
